The song is you : musical theatre and the politics of bursting into song and dance
(Book - Regular Print)

Book Cover
Average Rating
Published
Iowa City : University of Iowa Press, [2020].
Physical Desc
xii, 276 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.
Status
Yavapai College Prescott - LIMBO - Items being donated to other libraries
ML1711.8.N3R64 2020
1 available

More Details

Published
Iowa City : University of Iowa Press, [2020].
Format
Book - Regular Print
Language
English

Notes

Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Description
"Musicals, it is often said, burst into song and dance when mere words can no longer convey the emotion. This book argues that musicals burst into song and dance when one body can no longer convey the emotion. Rogers shows how the musical's obsession with burlesque and minstrelsy model the kinds of radical relationships that the genre works to create across the different bodies of its performers, spectators, and creators-every time the musical bursts into song. The musical's preoccupation with these "bad" performances of gender and race is the root of its progressive play with identity, and thus the source of its subcultural power. However, this leads to an ethical dilemma: Is the musical's progressive destabilization of identity thus rooted in its embrace of regressive entertainments like burlesque and minstrelsy? The Song Is You shows how musicals return again and again to this question, and grapple with a guilt that its joyously utopian pleasures are based on exploiting the laboring bodies of its performers. Rogers argues that the discourse of "integration" functioned to deny the radical work that the musical undertook every time it burst into song and dance. As "integration" loses its hold, we are forced to confront the gendered and racial dynamics that have always undergirded the genre. Can removing insensitive material and replacing it with "authentic" content change the underlying dynamic of projection and exploitation? Can through-sung musicals, by avoiding the moment of bursting into song and dance, also avoid this troubling dynamic? Can musicals critique themselves, providing their trademark joys while also reimagining their politics? This book reimagines the history of musical theatre, from The Black Crook (1866) to Soft Power (2019). Along the way, it provides new ways of understanding shows ranging from My Fair Lady, Oklahoma!, Show Boat, South Pacific, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum to The Grass Harp, Bells Are Ringing, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and the Princess Theatre Shows"--,Provided by publisher.

Description

Loading Description...

Also in this Series

Checking series information...

Copies

LocationCall NumberStatus
Yavapai College Prescott - LIMBO - Items being donated to other librariesML1711.8.N3R64 2020Find It Now

More Like This

Loading more titles like this title...

Reading Recommendations & More

Reviews from GoodReads

Loading GoodReads Reviews.

Citations

APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)

Rogers, J. B. (2020). The song is you: musical theatre and the politics of bursting into song and dance . University of Iowa Press.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Rogers, James Bradley, 1982-. 2020. The Song Is You: Musical Theatre and the Politics of Bursting Into Song and Dance. University of Iowa Press.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Rogers, James Bradley, 1982-. The Song Is You: Musical Theatre and the Politics of Bursting Into Song and Dance University of Iowa Press, 2020.

MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)

Rogers, James Bradley. The Song Is You: Musical Theatre and the Politics of Bursting Into Song and Dance University of Iowa Press, 2020.

Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.

Staff View

Loading Staff View.